This invention relates to testing equipment, and more particularly to a machine for testing the abrasion resistance of coatings.
Aluminum and steel beverage cans are provided with coatings, including such items as inks and varnishes, which both protect the surface and provide labeling. The beverage cans are shipped by a variety of modes of transportation, most typically by rail and truck. The cans are exposed to vibrations of all types during shipment and the vibrations can be very detrimental to both the coatings on the cans and the base stock of the cans. The cans are typically packed in six pack carriers and stacked next to each other and on top of each other. The surfaces of adjacent cans in contact will rub against each other as a result of the motions. Serious problems can result from such motions. Not only will the costings themselves be rubbed off, but the base stock of the cans can be abraded to the point where holes are formed in the cans.
Very large, complex equipment has been used in the past to simulate, in a laboratory environment, conditions of transportation so as to test the abrasion resistance of various coatings on beverage cans. The test results are predictive of what will occur in actual transportation conditions. In addition to being bulky, such equipment is relatively expensive. As a result such equipment has in the past been found in only a few central testing locations and it has been necessary to send cans to such locations for testing.
By my invention I provide a small, compact testing machine which can provide test results equivalent to that of the large, expensive equipment now in use and which, because of its small size and relatively low cost, can be installed at the can makers plant sites or at the coating manufacturers plant sites. The testing equipment can also be used for the testing of the abrasion resistance of coatings generally, and not only those which are used in beverage cans.